Three of the four men arrested for the alleged murder of “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor have been previously arrested and released, and Wactor’s best friend says their cases are the result of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón’s policies.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Police Department announced that it had arrested four men – all members of the Florencia 13 gang – in connection to the murder of Wactor on May 25. The four suspects are: Robert Barceleau, 18, of Huntington Park; Leonel Gutierrez, 18, of Los Angeles County; Sergio Estrada, 18, of Los Angeles County; and Frank Olano, 22, of Inglewood.

Micah Parker, Wactor’s best friend, blames the death of his friend on the men believed to be involved and on L.A. District Attorney George Gascón’s soft-on-crime policies.

“This has become a very pro-criminal city, straight up.” Parker told The Daily Wire in an interview. “Everything has to be ‘oh, well, what’s the background, what’s their life like?’ But no, it should be, ‘you break the law, you pay the price,’ and with George Gascón’s policies, it’s very much gotten away from that.”

The men arrested for murdering General Hospital star Johnny Wactor had all already been arrested in Los Angeles — but were released under liberal DA George Gascón. @AsheSchow just interviewed Wactor’s best friend, who says LA has turned into a “pro-criminal city” pic.twitter.com/1K8Lw6GFU5

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 16, 2024

Barceleau, Gutierrez, and Estrada – the three 18-year-olds – were arrested on suspicion of murder, while 22-year-old Olano is believed to be an accessory. All four are being held in lieu of a $2 million bond.

Inmate records reviewed by The Daily Wire show that Barceleau, Gutierrez, and Olano all have previous arrests, with Olano having a previous conviction. Barceleau and Gutierrez were both arrested and released after Wactor’s murder, CBS News reported.

The fact that these men had been arrested and released – some prior to Wactor’s murder – didn’t sit well with Parker.

“It’s infuriating,” Parker said. “[Olano] was arrested before the murder, imagine if [he] had stayed in jail, maybe none of this would have happened. And they had them in custody – one of them, 11 days after the murder – and yet, they were released on bond. After an assault with a deadly weapon charge.”

Eleven days after Wactor was murdered, Barceleau was arrested for an assault with a deadly weapon. He was also arrested in July for an undisclosed misdemeanor. He received a citation for the misdemeanor and was released on $125,000 bail for the assault with a deadly weapon charge.

Gutierrez was arrested for felony vandalism on July 19, nearly a month before he was arrested for Wactor’s murder. The reason given for his release was that he was a juvenile, even though he is 18.

Frank Olano had been arrested twice before Wactor’s murder, once in 2022 for a felony, and again in 2023 for two more charges, including another felony, for which he spent a few days in jail. Olano received probation for felony vandalism during Wactor’s murder, CBS reported.

Gascón survived a recall election but faces a hard-fought re-election bid against challenger Nathan Hochman.

The Kamala Harris Campaign recently published an image of her with the text, “we are not going back.” Will Democrats seek to replace her or Tim Walz from the ticket as their numbers start to tank? All it may take is another trip to the grocery store or a fill-up at the pump for reality to set back in for Americans excited about her candidacy. Most Americans would certainly like to “go back” to affordable gas prices, groceries, housing, and electricity.

Regardless of the ticket, any Democratic nominee would likely continue down the same policy path that has wrecked the American economy and — perhaps most importantly — dismantled our energy dominance.

Why does energy matter when everyone is talking about inflation, the border, and global conflicts? Because everything we do depends on access to affordable, reliable energy—and that means our next president’s energy policy will shape the future of America and the world. The Democrats’ vision for expensive, scarce, and government-controlled energy, dependent on the whims of the weather, is as reliable as Obamacare is affordable, and it would spell disaster for our nation.

Kamala Harris’ record on energy is clear. She endorsed California’s cap-and-trade carbon tax, co-sponsored the Green New Deal, and cast the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which is, as one journalist aptly put it, “the first major climate legislation…EVER!” These are the same policies that have driven California’s energy prices to astronomical levels and have left tens of thousands of people in the dark — literally.

In California last year, 215,000 people had their power disconnected for inability to pay, and over 40,000 of those households still had not had their services restored by year’s end. For those individuals, residential lease and mortgage terms are violated and homeowners insurance policies are canceled because requirements to keep utilities connected aren’t being met. These 40,000 people are at the highest risk of homelessness, all because they couldn’t afford to pay their energy bills.

This is not just a California story — though the numbers are much higher there, it’s a nationwide crisis unfolding under the Democrats’ watch. In California last year, nearly 27% of Californians missed payments on utility bills — compared to 16% nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. The previous year saw 5 million Americans receive disconnect notices from their utility companies. The pattern is clear: the Democrats’ energy policies, embraced in California, are making it harder for everyday Americans to keep their lights on.

Under the Trump administration, Americans enjoyed the benefits of a robust energy sector. The United States became a net energy exporter for the first time in decades, and American households saved an average of $2,500 a year on energy costs alone. Today, under the Biden-Harris administration, American families are paying $5,200 more per year, thanks to the Biden-Harris policies that have attacked the energy industry and levied higher costs on everything.

Harris’s stance on fracking is particularly troubling for energy-producing states like New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming as significant portions of their energy are produced on federal lands. In 2019, she unequivocally stated, “There is no question I’m in favor of banning fracking. And, starting with what we can do on day one around public lands, right!” In New Mexico, nearly two-thirds of energy production occurs on federal lands, generating over $6 billion in tax revenue. A Harris administration would be a direct threat to this critical industry, leaving millions unemployed and our nation more dependent on foreign oil.

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The consequences would be equally dire in states like Pennsylvania, and Ohio where auto production is a key economic driver. A Harris/Walz regime, with its bureaucratic deep state, would continue to unleash attacks against the energy and auto manufactures in these states. Chinese EV battery maker Gotion has already set up shop in Michigan, claiming U.S. federal and state tax subsidies while also receiving subsidies from the Chinese Communist Party. This is the kind of pro-China double-dealing that is resulting in, as President Trump predicted, a “bloodbath” for the American auto industry.

No wonder President Trump said he was “thrilled” with Tim Walz as Harris’ the VP pick. Not content with a centrist candidate to balance the ticket, Harris instead chose another hard leftist, verging on communist. The Democrats’ regime is no friend to American energy producers or the American automotive industry. And, as Harris has made clear, “we are not going back.”

In the end, the choice is clear. America needs leadership that will protect our energy independence, lower costs for American families, and strengthen our economy. The alternative is more of the same disastrous policies that have plagued California and could result in the United States being known as Kamalafornia — where energy is expensive, scarce, and unreliable, and where the American dream is slipping further out of reach for millions.

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The Honorable Jason Isaac, a former Texas state legislator, is CEO of the American Energy Institute.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.